FIRE IN A THEATRE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9029, 16 January 1908, Page 5

FIRE IN A THEATRE.

CABLE NEWS.

United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph Copyright.

A TERRIBLE PANIC. EIGHTY PERSONS KILLED. ONE HUNDRED INJURED. Received January 15, 8.30 a.m. NEW YORK, January 14. A fire caused by the explosion of a cinematograph machine at Rhodes's Opera House, Boyertown, Pennsylvania, killed eighty persons and injured one hundred. The explosion caused a panic among the audience, and seven hundred, chiefly women and Sunday scholars, rushed the stage, overturning lamps, which set lire to the scenery. Part of the floor collapsed, precipating scores into the basement. ■ Within five minutes the theatre was a roaring furnace. The staircases were blocked. Many of the audience, mounting piles of bodips five feet high, jumped from the windows. The fire apparatus was out of order, and this impeded the efforts of the fire fighters. (Boyerton is a mining town with a population of about two thousand.)

FRANTIC EFFORTS TO ESCAPE. WOMEN AND CHILDREN BEATEN DOWN. ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY - SEVEN BODIES RECOVERED.

Received January 16, 12.9 a.m. NEW YORK, January 15. The majority of the victims belonged to the most prominent families" in Boyertown, their children participating in a play entitled "Scottish Reformation." The coroner is of the opinion that the entrance to the theatre was too narrow. The oil lamps used as footlights to the stage overturned, and a number of people became frenzied, a:id men beat down women and children in their efforts to escape. Many parents sacrificed their lives in endeavouring to save their children. Several rescuers dashing into the building did not return. One hundred and sixty-seven bodies have been recovered. This is believed to be the total deaths. Enquiry shows that the pile connecting the calcium light with the hydrogen tnak behind the audience slipped off. Tne connection made a hissing sound, causing the panic. The tank did not explode until the flames reached it.